The Mongoose is a member of the family that includes ferrets, weasels and martens. It is a rather small, weasel-like carnivore native to Africa, southern Europe, and Asia. It is famous for its snake-fighting abilities, where it is almost always victorious because of its speed, agility and timing, and also because of its thick coat. The mongoose is resistant to alpha-neurotoxins contained in snake venoms. It has been shown that the mongoose acetyl-choline receptor (AChR) does not bind alpha-bungarotoxin (BTX) [Barchan et al., PNAS 89, 7717 (1992)]. The most 'famous' mongoose is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.

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Digipac®: CD packaging consisting of a sturdy plastic tray and high-quality cardboard. Alternative to Jewel Case. Allows more fancy cover designs. Usually more expensive than the Jewel Case.
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Video: Taxi Driver (1976). 114 min. w/ Robert DeNiro, Cybill Shepherd, Jodie Foster. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Set in NYC during the dangerous 70s. The lonely, mentally unstable, psychotic cab driver Travis Bickle (DeNiro), in looking for his own identity, feels he needs to "sweep away all the scum from the streets." After a failed date with a beautiful political campain worker (Shephard), he arms himself and decides to violently 'rescue' a child prostitute (14-year old Foster) from the street. Film noir. Great cast, great acting. Disturbing story.
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